Watching "Trust but Verify" I got a bit of a feeling that they might set up Malcolm as a bit of an Anti-Batman. His wife seemed to have been quite philanthropic and her death kicked off Merlyn's dark side. What if things went like this:

Merlyn's wife got killed by one of Starling City's downtrodden and this makes Malcolm so bitter, especially after his wife did so much to help the poor, that he blames them in general for her death cooking up the conspiracy to rid Starling City of the lower classes and training himself, essentially becoming a Batman type who doesn't blame criminals but poor people.

That's an interesting theory and I feel it makes him more of an anti-Arrow, especially in the context of this show. For the most part Oliver has just gone after the 1%, who perhaps not coincidentally have been in his dad's book. He has been reluctant to take on 'street' crime, though he has done that more lately.

So Malcolm taking on 'street' crime, or blaming the lower class for all of the city's ills could be a dark mirror reflection of Arrow's stance, IMO.

It could provide more resonance for Malcolm. Because for me, I'm only into his character because I liked Barrowman as Captain Jack. His Malcolm has been a bit too Snidley Whiplash for my taste. And while I usually don't have a problem with that, I wish he had more brio like John Glover's Lionel Luthor or more of an edge like Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn.

Plus I wish they had done a better job establishing a relationship with him and Tommy. I just don't think they have good chemistry as actors. Perhaps if they had just told us he was Tommy's dad from jump and we saw more of their interaction I might feel better about that.

In retrospect I don't see why they just didn't tell us who he was, have him be someone Oliver might like or maybe even trust and then drop it on us that he's involved in the conspiracy too. Keeping his identity so mysterious only really made sense if he was going to be a big DC character, which is isn't. Even though he's supposed to be the dark archer Merlyn, it's not like he's Arthur King.

So, am I the only one wondering as to why Malcom hasn't gone after Green Arrow again? I mean it's been awhile since Oliver resurfaced back as Arrow in the public's eyes and he has resumed his mission on going after the people who are on the list so I would have assumed that Malcom would go back to what he was doing as the Dark Archer against Oliver by now.

I wonder if the season finale will have Malcolm Merlyn as the Dark Archer gather all of the villains we've seen this season such as China White, Deadshot, Count Vertigo, Cyrus Vanch, and the Royal Flush Gang in taking on Green Arrow before he takes him on personally.

Realistically Dark Archer would have come back as soon as he was fit, and Arrow started up again.

Given that it's a TV show? The whole dark archer thing was a great way to keep people interested in the mid season break and a tease for the inevitable end of season rematch. Last episodes of the season are almost certain to be about the Undertaking, Barrowman and possibly Moira.

I'm kind of hoping that they continue to show Malcolm's fighting and weapon skills being more western descended than Oliver's. We've seen Malcolm fencing as opposed to Ollie's use of Escrima, his armor has a more medieval European look than Arrow's, and even his armory features a knights suit of armor.

It would be cool if they acknowledged that humanity has some parallel weapons development that is still unique enough that our hero and villain employ.

So, anyone kind of hoping that Malcolm Merlin is revealed to be alive and bitter in some future episode?

I've been thinking that if that Supermax movie never gets made, it would make a great mini-arc for a season, and probably the biggest holy **** moment would be the reveal that Malcolm's inside as well.

Smallville, the Clone Wars, Avengers and Lois and Clark all showcased the power of a returning arch nemesis, and quite frankly, he deserves it.

And it makes him quite possibly the most faithfully translated villain on any comic show yet. He's the rival archer who's actually a bit more dangerous than Oliver and is tied into the League of Assassins. How cool is it that he's the genuine article as far as comic villains go? He's a better translation than most Marvel-movie villains, for crying out loud!

Magneto as well. I'm still not sure that he's dead. If Deadshot could take an arrow through the eye and survive, then an arrow in the chest doesn't strike me as necessarily being fatal. Also, the messenger guy who visited Canary was wearing a very Dark Archer-like costume. Maybe that's the LOA's standard uniform in this version.

Depends on if they want fantasy elements in the show, the [spoiler]Lazarus Pit[/spoiler is clearly going to be possible. But they have Black Canary using an electronic device for the sonic scream, so maybe the writers consider the

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

Lazarus Pit

as not doable...or it would have to be described in a very non-mystical way...

So do you guys think that he'll show some remorse over the fact that Tommy died as a result of his "undertaking"? And if he's been alive all this time, I hope they answer as to why he never got revenge on Oliver right away. I mean he could have assassinated Oliver from a distance with a well shot arrow.

So do you guys think that he'll show some remorse over the fact that Tommy died as a result of his "undertaking"? And if he's been alive all this time, I hope they answer as to why he never got revenge on Oliver right away. I mean he could have assassinated Oliver from a distance with a well shot arrow.

Probably not, he will blame Oliver, after all Malcolm is crazy and he has Thea now.

As for revenge the writers need to come up with a good plan for him to explain why he doesn't just kill Oliver.